This invention relates to improvements in the wood/log processing machine described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,379.
In the machine described in said patent a shear blade transverse to the log, mounted for vertical movement in a vertical shear blade frame, first cuts less than entirely through the log and then moves rearward to pull the log farther into the machine. When splitting is desired, each such rearward movement of the shear blade frame pushes the leading end portion of the log through a splitter. Then the shear blade completes its downward movement to cut off the leading end of the log, the shear blade retracts upward, and then the shear blade frame retracts to a start position to repeat the operation on the next leading end portion of the log.
As the log is thus drawn into the machine step-by-step, vertical knife edges on a pair of lateral arms shear off side branches and a horizontal knife edge on a top arm shears off top branches.
The main frame of the machine is inclined to correspond to the inclination of the incoming log by raising or lowering the machine output end support on a pair of wheels, while the input end is supported at fixed elevation by an infeed ramp resting on the ground. Each log is started into the machine by a power operated grapple which pulls the log in far enough for its first engagement by the shear blade, after which all further infeed movements are accomplished by the shear blade as described above.